?6 
The Illustrated Booic of Plgeons. 
that when the young pigeons are old enough to come out of their pan, they fall on to the floor, 
when they are pretty sure to “ come to grief,” either by breaking their legs with the fall, or, if they 
escape that, from being attacked by the other birds in the loft, which are often most spiteful to such 
unfortunate youngsters, and peck them in a frightful manner. 
Strong-flying breeds, many Toys, and the commoner hardy pigeons generally, need less care 
in this respect. For them it will be sufficient to fit up shelves a foot wide and a foot apart, as in 
Fig. 2, the shelves being separated by the partitions A and B into breeding divisions about three 
111 
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Fig. 3. — General Loft. 
feet wide, and boards, C D, a foot wide being nailed perpendicularly over the ends, to form sheltcis 
or screens for the nest-pans. Even in this case, however, it will be better to provide movable 
partitions about eight inches high, with which to enclose the nest entirely when the hen leaves the 
young ones, for the reasons already given, and also to prevent the young ones falling off the shelf 
on to the floor. We prefer these partitions to be movable rather than fixed, as they are on y 
needed at the times specified, and their removal gives less trouble in examining the biids 01 in 
cleaning at other times, and also gives to each division more the appearance of a single home, 
which is very desirable, to avoid the intrusion of other birds. If slantipg boards be fixed to the 
front of the shelves, as shown in the figure, and more fully described in speaking of big 4> th° 
